Sunday of Joseph (NT)

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. ¹¹ For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death is at work in us, but life in you.

¹³ Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵ For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Why does St Paul use the Illustration about Jars of Clay? I do not use jars of clay. They seem easily broken and a little out dated. Oh yeah, St Paul did not write this yesterday did he. Maybe i need to look at the frailty of my own body. The frailty of the world around me.

Have you ever killed a tree? I used my need weed whacker and was trimming around a smaller tree in my yard. I think I got a little to close to it. A couple of weeks latter it didn’t have any leaves left on it. Finally, that fall I pulled it up out of the ground. I think it was dead. The world is frail and so are we. It is frail and we are dying continually every day as we live in sin. We are fully corrupted by sin.

But St Paul reminds us of the treasure we have in the one who was sacrificed for the forgiveness of our sins. He also rose again from the dead. He rose as the firstfruits of our resurrection. St Paul reminds us that we suffer now on account of our sins. But this suffering is only temporary, because Christ has something glorious in store for us. He has a strong renewed creation. He has eternal life with him.